How the unraveling of Jason Arday’s career and the UK’s censorship collided
The implosion of the magnificent tales of Jason Arday, a professor who recently resigned from the University of Cambridge, is currently playing out across social media and headlines. Anyone reading this has no doubt heard at least some of the messy details by now. But because of some of the United Kingdom’s most notorious censorship problems, this story took a long time to see sunlight. Arday is a British academic and, until last week, taught sociology at the University of Cambridge, the youngest Black person ever appointed as professor at the prestigious institution. That was hardly the most interesting thing about Arday, though, according to accounts he gave of his own life story. Arday was diagnosed with autism at three, nonverbal until 11, unable to read until 18, but then overcame these obstacles to obtain his PhD, not to mention his herculean long-distance running achievements and the millions he raised in charity. All of these inspiring tales — like Arday running 30 marathons in...








